Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Kristen and Alen's Davis Island Wedding



On March 25th, Kristen and Alen said "I Do" under bright blue skies surrounded by many friends and family at Davis Island Garden Club. The weather could not have been any more perfect for their outdoor ceremony and the bride and groom could not have been any more adorable!

Kristen came to Flawless Occasions in August of last year in search of a day of coordinator. She really wanted to make sure that her wedding was fun for her guests and she absolutely accomplished that!

Before the ceremony, guests were invited to enjoy cocktails on the patio which was decorated with beautiful chandeliers, sheer drapes and cocktail tables decorated with beautiful white and fuscia linens (which were provided by Kate Ryan Linens). Guests were able to enjoy beautiful music by a string ensemble too.

For the ceremony, the gazebo was decorated with more draping and gorgeous arrangements which were created by Botanica. Rose petals lined each side of the aisle and pails full of roses hung on shepherds hooks.

The inside of Davis Island Garden Club was elegant and charming all at once. The escort cards were boarding passes which had a destination for each guest. The destinations were the table names which represented places that Kristen and Alen had been to together.

Botanica provided draping and up lighting which transformed the room. The tables were covered with gorgeous crushed satin table cloths (from Kate Ryan Linens), silver chargers, aqua colored napkins and silver chivari chairs from First Class Rentals. Kristen created her own centerpieces which were a mix of tall glass cylinders with roses and shallow bowls with floating flowers and candles. In addition, Botanica created two huge arrangements with curly willow.

As an extra treat for the guests, a cigar roller from Cuban Dreams was on hand so guests could enjoy their own freshly rolled cigar.

I cannot say enough great things about Cory from Grant Hemond! He really kept this party crowd on the dance floor shaking and moving all night long.

Mandy & Me photography was there to capture the moments and photograph this fun loving couple. Mandy already has pictures up on her blog which is amazing in itself! It is also the reason I have these fabulous pictures to share on our blog. (Please check out her blog for more pictures though!!)

Life's Highlights was also on hand to video the entire day. I hope to have some of their footage to show you soon...so don't forget to check back!!

Most people know how much I love cake and this one was no different! As always, Laurie from A Piece of Cake created a Cake that was delicious to the eyes and the taste buds!

Last but not least, the catering and bar tending were provided by Amici's who prepared a beautiful buffet of items personally selected by the bride and groom.

It was such a pleasure to be part of Kristen and Alen's special day! I hope they are enjoying their awesome honeymoon in Turks & Caicos!

I also wanted to give a shout out to our newest Flawless Occasions member, Kelly. She did a fantastic job helping with the set up and I am so happy to have her on board. Thanks to Shawna who stopped to assist as well and one last special thank you to Cory from Grant Hemond for the help packing up at the end of the night!

Kristen and Alen - thank you for hiring Flawless Occasions. You two have a love that is contagious, fun, and inspiring all at once. I wish you both a lifetime of happy moments!


Thank you to Mandy & Me Photography for letting us share all of the following photos!









Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sneak Peak!



Isn't this a beautiful picture!!!
This is a professional photo from Jen and Corey's Mahaffey Theater wedding taken by Stephanie A. Smith Photography! She really did a fantastic job of capturing their personalities!
We hope to be able to share more soon!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

A Fabulous Shoe Shower!






I usually don't put very many personal posts up, but in this case my planning job meshed with my personal life and I definitely wanted to share. This weekend I got to plan an awesome shower for my friend Natalie who is getting married at the end of April. I put together the shower since most of the other bridesmaids live out of town and everyone was really happy with how it turned out (whew!).

We hosted the shower at the delicious Pane Rustica in South Tampa. Their private room, called the Blue Room, was a swanky yet cozy spot with gorgeous decor and a large plasma screen tv on which we played a dvd slideshow as a surprise to the bride.

The theme of the shower was shoes because the bride is a total fashionista and loves her shoes. We had a custom cake created by Sweets by Mindy and it came out so adorable! It also tasted delicious (we had the amaretto cake). We also had high-heel shoe cookie favors from All the Buzz Cookies. I've used Amy a few times for various custom cookie favors and she does a great job. Her sugar cookies are almost too cute too eat.. but they are too tasty not to eat. :) One of the other bridesmaids made the simple and modern tulip arrangements and we had pintuck runners on the tables as well.


Here are a few of my photos from the fabulous shoe shower!












Sunday, March 13, 2011

Jeff and Dana's Napa-Inspired Nuptials

I had the pleasure of coordinating a wedding this weekend for a very special couple. The bride, Dana, and her twin sister, Marcie, were sorority sisters of mine at the University of Florida. I was so honored when Dana hired me almost a year ago to be her day-of-coordinator. I also knew many of the bridesmaids which made it really fun for me. The wedding was held at the amazing Reunion Resort - this is one of my new favorite venues now. It is located about an hour east of Tampa in the city of Reunion, right before the Disney area. It's a gorgeous resort with beautiful scenic parks and of course their well known golf course. The ceremony was held in the Grande tent next to a beautiful waterfall, and it incorporated all the Jewish traditions and rituals including a ketubah signing prior to the actual wedding ceremony. Rabbi Arthur Baseman officiated under a breathtaking chuppah covered in curly willow, hydranga, and roses created by Botanica.

Because the couple chose to do a first look and all of their formal portraits before the ceremony, everyone got to relax during the cocktail hour and I got to give the bride and groom a sneak peak of the reception room before the guests came in. That was for sure one of my favorite parts of the night! Dana also got to show Jeff the surprise groom's cake which was adorable.

The reception was held in the Grande Ballroom with entertainment provided by Blue Stone Circle band. This crowd partied well into the night starting off with almost 200 people doing the traditional Hora dance and continuing with the dance floor packed til 1:30am! The Reunion staff put on an amazing event with great food and awesome personal details like monogrammed desserts and mini ice sculptures for the intermezzo (yes, every single guest received their own "Z" ice sorbet bowl). Their service really was top-notch and I can't thank them enough for their hard work and all of the care they put into this event. The 5 tier wedding cake and the "grill master" groom's cake were both made by Party Flavors bakery in Orlando and they came out great.



Many of the details had an underlying wine theme -- grapes in the centerpieces by Botanica, purple hues throughout, murano glass wine stopper favors -- because Jeff proposed to Dana during a trip to Napa.



Dana and Jeff, it was a pleasure coordinating this wedding for you both and I wish you a lifetime of happiness together. Thanks for letting me be a part of your big day. Here are some of my personal photos of the day and pro photos hopefully coming soon as well as a video highlight from DunnRight Video!!





















































































































Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Jennifer and Corey's Mahaffey Wedding



I started working with Jen and Corey in November of 2009 so it was bitter sweet to see them tie the knot at Mahaffey Theater on February 26th. They are such a fun couple and I am truly going to miss working with them!

Their ceremony was held on the first floor atrium which has floor to ceiling windows so it almost felt like you were outside. Jen had her little brother do a reading from Dr Seuss' "Oh The Places You Will Go" which had guests both laughing and crying at the same time. Their long time family friend, Rev. Landeen did a beautiful job performing the ceremony. Afterwards, guests enjoyed cocktails and appetizers on the second floor atrium.

The reception was held in the ballroom (which also had amazing views)and was decorated with navy table cloths, stunning floral arrangements from Dana Dineen and the largest cookie buffet I have ever seen! The cake from Let Them Eat Cake was adorned with the cutest cake topper that Jen found on Etsy.

Delectables catered the event and the food was delicious! Guests raved about how tender the beef was and the pasta bar was a huge hit! The Delectables staff were all very professional and the service was fantastic.

Rob Sword provided the music for the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception and, as always, did a wonderful job MC'ing. The dance floor was packed all night long! There was a very talented little boy (my guess is he was about 2) who had dance moves that most men don't have. He really stole the show! :)

Stephanie Smith and her second shooter, Carolina Araujo were there to capture all the smiles, the happy tears and the special moments. It was so much fun working with them and I can't wait to see their photos!

Now, back to that awesome cookie buffet! Many of the cookies were actually made by Jen & Corey's friends and family. You name it, they had it! There were too many different types of cookies to name - but the guests really enjoyed them throughout the evening and also loved being able to fill up goodie bags so they could enjoy them later.

Jen and Corey, it has been so much fun working with the two of you. The love you too share is so special and so inspiring. I wish you both a lifetime of love, happiness and many great memories. I hope to see you at a Rays game soon!

Here are some of the pictures I took, but hope to have some professional photos to post soon!















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This little man was quite the dancer!